New Major Update Released!

Today we are proud to release two major additions to The King Is Watching:

• The Dark Realm Free Update, introducing a brand-new map with unique mechanics, enemies, bosses, and a large collection of quality-of-life improvements.

• The Crowns of History DLC, which expands your royal roster with three new Rulers.

Here is the trailer for the update:

The Crowns of History DLC introduces three new rulers, each with unique mechanics and playstyles.

Cleopatra commands the power of death and rebirth. She introduces a unique resource called Canopy, gathered whenever friendly units fall in battle.

Canopy allows Cleopatra to summon powerful Egyptian units, each with abilities that trigger upon death. Her abilities allow those units to return to life, creating powerful chains of sacrifice and resurrection - proving once again that death is only the beginning.

Taizong excels at defending the castle with devastating firepower. His abilities allow him to man castle walls with loyal Crossbowmen while boosting the damage of the newly introduced Offensive Structures.

These structures weaken enemy waves before they reach the walls, allowing Taizong to finish them with precise and devastating cavalry charges of your Rider units.

Xerxes commands an army unlike any other. All his units have only 10% of their normal HP, but deal 400% damage. His abilities allow him to temporarily grant invincibility to his army and summon the legendary Immortals, creating brief windows of overwhelming power.

Under Xerxes, battles are decided in seconds - victory or total annihilation.

You can learn more about the DLC on its store page.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3951490/Crowns_of_History/

The Dark Realm free update brings a wealth of new content for all players:

• A new map with unique gameplay mechanics

• A completely new enemy faction and bosses

• Narrative events with unusual choices

• New artifacts that expand build variety

• New advisors for your royal council

• Numerous balance updates and quality-of-life improvements

Below you can find the full update notes. But before you go into reading them, we wanted to let you know that we've launched our first merchandise line - it's six different T-Shirts you may buy at tinyBuild shop, operated by our partners from Tinybox.

The Dark Realm is a dark and dangerous map. It’s inspired by the works of Lovecraft and is centered around the theme of cosmic horrors. Here you will face The Kraken and its deadly tentacles.

This map brings new dynamics, since enemies stay out of your reality and invisible to your armies. Only by focusing your Royal Gaze upon a specific building you may attack them. So you are free to choose the right time to cleanse the waves of eldritch offspring

Four new bosses were added to the map

• O’Chtulpus

• Vesper, Keeper of Seals

• Alexia, the Cursed Princess

• The Kraken

The Kraken will be a unique boss that plays completely differently from anything you’ve faced before. We really wanted it to feel like you’re slaying a true eldritch monstrosity - one piece at a time. Don’t prepare for a blitz - prepare for a prolonged siege. Defeating it will take longer than any other boss in the game, so to keep the overall playtime within reasonable limits, we decided to skip Tier 2 bosses on this map entirely. The Kraken will summon troops and retreat into hiding until you’ve dealt with them all. Its HP bar is longer than a highway, and its attacks can one-shot your troops if you’re not careful. Stay sharp.

The map will feature tentacles as main enemies. They do not march like goblins. They do not swarm like undead. Some wait motionless until you get close and others set to work spawning living bombs. Some evolve into siege tendrils and others combine with corrupted souls to create spell-casting hybrids to attack your troops. 

You may ignore a few, you will not ignore all.

No new map would be complete without new choices.

• You may allow a deadly cat within your walls.

• You may host an emperor riding a bear.

• You may sell an artifact that makes you unnaturally attractive.

Each choice has consequences. Some subtle. Some catastrophic.

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This update introduces a new category of buildings: Offensive Structures. Existing buildings such as Tesla Tower, Cannon, and Balloon Bomber Hangar have been moved into this category. In addition, six new structures have been added:

• Timber Launcher. Launches a wooden log at an incoming enemy.

• Fuel Launcher. Launches a fuel barrel at incoming enemies. 

• Great Slingshot. Attacks incoming enemies with a giant stone.

• Firebomb launcher. Launches napalm bombs at incoming enemies. 

• Poison Tower. Attacks incoming enemies with a beam of light that poisons them, dealing damage over time.

• Dovecote. Releases several birds that circle over the battlefield and poop on enemies.

We’ve also rebalanced the damage and economy of the offensive structures, so you can use them more efficiently. Some upgrades further help with this. E.g., one of Poison Tower’s upgrades, will allow you to extract fuel from killed enemies. 

We’ve also added a new Elite Unit: Cannons. It’s similar to Catapults and Ballistas in terms of long ranged attacks, but its trait increases the damage of all Offensive Structures.

We’re also introducing several quality-of-life improvements in this update.

First two are delivered as two unlockable upgrades.

Starting Blueprint adds one extra blueprint for each King, letting you kick off your build earlier:

• Baldwin — Gold Mine

• Leonid — Fisherman’s Hut

• Leo the Wise — Buddhist Temple

• Spellus — Tile Enchanter (Epic)

• Brezhnius — Arena

• Alucard — Bone Pit

• Saladin — Big Well

• Taizong of Tang — Brick Factory

• Xerxes — King Statue

• Cleopatra — Winery

For the second upgrade, we know some of you have amassed quite a stockpile of Town Denarii. We can’t just keep adding permanent upgrades to spend them on - that would push your power level too far. And we don’t want to reduce Denarii income either, since that would make the game feel grindier.

So we came up with a solution: Special Goods. This upgrade unlocks a new section in the trader, letting you purchase rewards with Town Denarii. It does make you stronger - but only for the current run. We've also increased amount of Town Denarii you receive as bonus for higher Threat Levels.

We’ve also improved the unlock of new Threat Levels following your feedback on the release of Volcano. Beating any Threat level up to 5 included, will unlock the same Threat level on all other maps. To unlock the next map you still need to beat Threat level 3 on the previous map. Beating a Threat level automatically collects all Ascension crystals from lower Threat levels on that location. Starting from Threat level 6 each you would need to beat levels 6-10 on each location separately.

We hope the above change will allow you to enjoy new maps faster. Also we made a slight changes to Threat level modifiers order, Second boss mod appears on Threat level 6 instead of 5. 

Wine consumption and production has also been slightly improved:

• We reduced general wine consumption by 25%

• Winery production changed: 2 grapes to 1 wine -> 3 grapes to 2 wine

• Summoning Sphere — Using any King ability summons a temporary standard unit.

• Butcher’s Cleaver — When an enemy dies, another may flee in fear (excluding bosses).

• Nail of Self-Mortification — Damage increases, HP decreases.

• Nutritious Meal — Boosts damage and HP of all unit classes.

• Family Portrait — When castle HP is low, all troops deal increased damage.

• Last Will — Troop deaths temporarily increase building production speed.

• Crown of Thorns — Converts all water into wine.

• Book of Poisons — Doubles poison duration.

• Recycling Manual — Troop deaths grant random resources.

• Village Head — Start with a fully upgraded Peasants’ Hut.

• Trader — Exchange resources for rewards on cooldown.

• Banker — Gain +1 morale per 10 Denarii.

• Nurse — Begin with the first Gaze upgrade, taken as debt.

• New upgrade added for Peasants’ Hut, increasing their HP and damage

• Solvurm: spawn time for small worms increased from 10s → 18s

• Gorzog Alchemists throw bottles less frequently, but the debuff lasts longer

• Volkar now uses fire breath 2 times instead of 3

• Acid Rain modifier now deals damage based on % of troop max HP instead of a flat value

• Freezing Meteorite from Lich modifier no longer deals damage

• Volcanic Power combustion now deals more damage but triggers less often

• Hungering Maw flee duration increased from 1.5s → 2.5s

• Spell Health Boost HP increased from 40 → 70

• Research Table meta upgrade now allows Veteran Barracks blueprints

• Sophy’s Research Lab blueprint time reduced from 140s → 120s

• Several upgrade prices slightly reduced

• Tutorial difficulty reduced

• Victory and defeat now trigger castle animations before the ending screen
  Invincible troops now have a distinct visual effect

• Partial support added for non-16:9 resolutions with custom artwork instead of black bars

• You can now destroy or sell multiple buildings by holding Shift

• 12 New Steam Achievements added

• Boss corpses can now be resurrected as Undead units via Necromancy or Alucard’s ability

And some other small UI and quality of life changes and fixes.

We hope you’ll enjoy the update! Let us know your feedback on Steam and in our social media!

• Discord

• Reddit

• Twitter

Have fun!

~ Hypnohead team